ambitious

ambitious

adjective

Definition of AMBITIOUS

1

having a strong desire for personal advancement <an ambitious child actor and his even more ambitious mother, who will do anything to get him in commercials>

Synonyms aspiring, go-getting, hard-driving, pushing, self-seeking

Related Words determined, diligent, driving, dynamic, enterprising, gung ho, hungry, hustling, industrious, motivated, scrappy, venturesome, venturous; animated, lively, spirited; ardent, avid, eager, energetic, impassioned, keen, raring, vigorous; aggressive, assertive, high-flying, opportunistic, overambitious, pretentious, pushy, self-assertive; competing, competitive, rival, rivalrous

Near Antonyms apathetic, disinterested, indifferent, uneager, unenthusiastic, unexcited, uninterested; casual, easygoing, lackadaisical, lazyish; halfhearted, lukewarm, tepid; lazy, lethargic, listless, shiftless, sluggish, spiritless; unaggressive, unassertive

Antonyms ambitionless, unambitious

2

having or showing a bold forcefulness in the pursuit of a goal <cleaning up the vacant lot in one weekend was an ambitious undertaking>

Synonyms ambitious, assertive, enterprising, fierce, go-getting, high-pressure, in-your-face, militant, pushy, self-asserting, self-assertive

Related Words argumentative, bellicose, belligerent, combative, contentious, discordant, disputatious, gladiatorial, militant, pugnacious, quarrelsome, trigger-happy, truculent, warlike; hyperaggressive, overambitious; dynamic, energetic, enterprising, gung ho, hustling, strenuous, vigorous; emphatic, obtrusive; adventuresome, adventurous, daring, dashing, emboldened, gutsy, venturesome, venturous; audacious, bold, brash, brassy, bumptious, cheeky, cocksure, cocky, confident, determined, forward, impudent, insolent, overconfident, presumptuous, unapologetic, unsubdued, unyielding; bare-knuckle (also bare-knuckled or bare-knuckles), feisty, scrappy; dominating, domineering, imperious, lordly, magisterial, overbearing

Near Antonyms easygoing, laid-back, relaxed; acquiescent, amenable, compliant, deferential, docile, resigned, submissive, tractable, yielding; cowering, cringing, groveling (or grovelling), shrinking; bashful, demure, diffident, humble, lowly, meek, mild, modest, mousy (or mousey), overmodest, passive, quiet, reserved, retiring, shy, subdued, timid, unobtrusive; obsequious, servile, slavish, subservient

Antonyms ambitionless, low-pressure, nonassertive, unaggressive, unambitious, unassertive, unenterprising